George Washington at Fort LeBoeuf
and The French & Indian War
Jan 28, 2009 Jeffrey L Cuttler
Robert Dinwiddie
With the Ohio Country in dispute between France & England, Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie received authorization from London to construct forts to the west, into the contested territory. It was of only a secondary concern to both the French and the British, that the Iroquois had already claimed these lands through the earlier conquests of the Monongahela and Shawnee Indians, who had inhabited the region around the Forks of the Ohio River.
Fort LeBoeuf
Dinwiddie’s instructions permitted the use of force, only in the event of French interference with the establishment of English forts or in order to prevent the creation of French forts. Considering that the French had already built forts on the northeast fringes of the Ohio Country, it is clear that Dinwiddie’s orders gave him immediate authorization to take military action against the trespassers. But rather than mobilizing a military assault to remove the French, Dinwiddie sent twenty one year old Major George Washington, of the Virginia Militia, into the Ohio Country to deliver a letter to them at Fort LeBoeuf in present day Northwest Pennsylvania, demanding their immediate withdrawal. On December 11, 1753, Washington, guide Christopher Gist, and four Mingo Indians, arrived at Fort LeBoeuf. After delivering Dinwiddie’s letter, Washington spent five days among the French, and during that time, made detailed notes of the fort. He observed more than two hundred twenty canoes at the fort and came away convinced that the French were preparing for a spring expedition to the Forks of the Ohio. He delivered the French response to Dinwiddie the following month. The French had no intention of vacating the Ohio Country.
Fort Prince George
Concerned that the French did indeed intend to proceed to the Forks in the spring, Dinwiddie commissioned William Trent, an English settler living near the Ohio River, as a Captain in the Virginia Militia, and ordered him to raise a company for the purpose of building a fort. Construction of Fort Prince George began on February 17, 1754. Dinwiddie also ordered Washington, now a lieutenant colonel, and two hundred men to proceed from Virginia to the Forks.
Fort Duquesne
On April 17, a French force of about five hundred men, led by Captain Claude-Pierre Pe’caudy, seigneur de Contrecoeur, arrived at the Forks of the Ohio. With Washington and his men having not yet arrived, and outnumbered by more than twelve to one, the English surrendered the fort. As Trent’s men retreated to Virginia, the French expanded and reinforced the garrison, naming it Fort Duquesne, in honor of Marquis Duquesne, Governor-General of New France (Canada). George Washington though, was still in route to the Ohio Country and would not be easily deterred.
George Washington
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